The sport of wrestling has produced some of the top fighters in all of MMA, and now there’s another contender throwing his hat in the ring.

2009 NCAA champion Darrion Caldwell will officially make his transition into mixed martial arts this year.

Caldwell wrestled at North Carolina State University where he captured the NCAA title at 149lbs in 2009, and was also a two-time All-American while wrestling at the ACC school.

While wrestling at North Carolina State, Caldwell faced some very stiff competition but managed to pick up wins over notable names like current Team Alpha Male fighter Lance Palmer as well as holding a win over Brent Metcalf, Olympic hopeful and one of the most decorated wrestlers in Big Ten conference history.

Caldwell has now signed on with the Martin Advisory Group, who manage fighters such as Ryan Bader, Aaron Simpson, Gray Maynard and Michael Chandler, and will begin his MMA training alongside some other top notch wrestlers at Power MMA & Fitness in Arizona.

He joins the afore mentioned Bader and Simpson as well as C.B. Dollaway, Tim Means and other UFC mainstays that will help Caldwell as he makes his transition into MMA.

On top of the move to Arizona for his training, Caldwell has also secured a multi-fight deal with Legacy Fighting Championships, where he will kick off his MMA career.

Caldwell will begin training for his first MMA fight immediately with the team in Arizona as he looks to make his debut for Legacy later this year.

UFC 189 may have got off to a slow start, but the action quickly ramped into high gear, and the final six fights ended via stoppage. Check out 55 post-fight facts about the show.Filed under: Newsread news >>

Join us here tonight for live coverage of episode 12 of The Ultimate Fighter as the latest season sees its conclusion. TUF: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians airs tonight at 10 pm on Fox Sports 1. Jread news >>

The World Series of Fighting continues to sign Russian talents to their promotion, as they’ve added two more fighters to their roster over the past few days. Following the recent signing of top Russiread news >>